“Asset Amnesia is a side effect of Maintenance Memory Loss… ”

It affects maintenance organizations of all sizes.

Asset Amnesia affects organizations when they forget what their core mission, strategy, key goals and metrics are and their meaning to the "big picture" of their enterprise/company. They slip into an operational stage of facing every day doing what they have done for the past year/month/week/day "because"...

Things Change...

Let's face it... We all know things change... It is a fact of life and business.

We need to change along with them (again in both life and business). When we don't, we trudge along day to day just existing... doing...forgetting the primary reasons why we do them. We may have measurements, but we don't truly analyze them. We forget to ask ourselves: "Are these relevant today as they were (let's say) six months ago"? We need to ask: "Have 'things changed' enough that we need to revisit our mission... our strategy...our measurements...the data system (s) to get our measurements?"

We don't tend not to ask these things because they can drive a whole host of more questions that we don't know the answer to and can/will create confusion and effort for which we sometimes don't have time (and often budget) for... Plus, .many struggle getting things organized and prioritized after we identify things we want to change....

It doesnt have to be that complicated, confusing or unorganized if one approaches it in a logical manner and uses "tools designed" to make it easy. Tools and approaches that can provide an structure/framework to get the information we need, presented I clear and understand format and organized.

Where to Start...

Start by Thinking.... Think about what has changed. Think about your mission. It will drive a few relevant questions... Write them down as you think about them. Keep them to a managable number that initially focuses on "Why do we exist and are ad effective?". This will eventually lead you down a path relevant to your maintenance strategy. It could be an existing one or, due to "change", a new one. If an existing strategy, the direction will be how effectively you are at executing it and if the strategy is embedded in your maintenance organizations culture. If it is a new strategy driven by chang the direction will be how doroth get his new strategy in place and embedded in your maintenance organizations culture?

Based on your current level of Maintenance Maturityer, which includes what we term the "P4 Elements" (People, Policies, Process and Procedures) a review of an existing strategy or putting a new one in place will vary....

Using the Right Tools

The International Maintenance standard, ISO 55000, can used as a/the "tool"... Many know its name, but don't realize can be used as a "tool" to review or implement a maintenance organzations (current or new) strategy.

At high level, the standard is designed to confirm a maintenance organzations "strategy" is in place and is imbedded in the organzation. It is built upon a framework categories/requirements. What many do not realize, can be used to review a current strategy or as a "checklist" to insure elements are " in place" to "implement" a new strategy. One just needs to know how to use the standards framework effectively as a "simplified tool" to assess. We have figured this out for maintenance organizations ...

Whether using the standard to review of one's current strategy or to implement new one, many may not realize that having the standards various categories/requirements in place is subjective. It is based on a maintenance organizations maturity (and partially on the P4 Elements we mentioned earlier). To clarify the point, we will use a simple anology of two companies at the opposite end of the spectrum. Company 1 is a sizable company with one location that makes a product that is sold across the country. Company 2 is a global enterprise with several locations around world. They make products that are sold around the world.

In this analogy, let's use an ISO 55000 requirement related to having ones maintenance polices documented and available to the entire maintenance organzation. It does not define "how" it (or any requirements) should be implemented.

Company 1 has all of its maintenance policies on paper. They are all stored in a very organized and structured (physical) filing system located in the main maintenance office at its (single) location. It is accessible by all maintenance personnel on all the shifts each day.

Company 2 has all of its maintenance policies documented in electronic PDF format. They are organized and stored on an internal cloud system accessible by all maintenance personnel around the world via the companies intranet.

Based on the "face value" of the standards requirement, the subjective view is that both companies fulfill the requirement. They both have the requirement "In Place"...

Simplified Assessment Standard

Based on the example above, one can then use a simple standard method to assess themselves to the ISO 55000 requirements. This approach can be used as an initial first (and fast) way of learning where one stands to the requirements.

A simple assessment standard of : "In Place", "In Process" and "Not In Place" can be used to assess if your (current or new) strategy elements fulfill each category/requirement in three standards framework based on one's subjective view.

The results of the simplifed (and standardized) approach will not only let you know where your stand, but where you need to go.

We have developed a simple toolset and report to allow maintenance organzations to assess themselves to the requirements of the ISO 55000 standard simply by subjectively answering whether a requirement is "In Place", "In Process" or "Not In Place".

Based on years of experience with maintenance organzations of varying sizes and missions around the world, the output has been thoughtfully organized in a report that uses simple language, tables and charts to help an organzation understand where they stand and what they need to do to "fill the gaps" (should they desire to do so). It shows an organizations strengths and weaknesses to each of the standards requirements as well as translating the results to maintenance organzations maturity. The information is also organized and aligned to the ISO 55000 framework and requirements that can/will assist organizations in prioritizing and making sound business decisions based on the structured data in the report.

Measuring Up

Knowing the "nuts and bolts" of your maintenance organization, as well as your strategy, is used and leveraged in the assessment to help you see how your maintenance organization measures up and if it is embedded in your maintenance culture. You also get an understanding of your maintenance organizations maturity using another standard contained in the report.

The report can be used internally as a discussion document or as a basis to prioritize and begin an internal activity

All one needs to do to assess and measure their organizations position to standard and receive the report is to use an on-line questionnaire aligned to the standard and submit their input. The input will be processed into your customized report and send via email within 24 hours.

Don't get Asset Amnesia....

Assess your maintenance organization today using the ISO 55000 standard as a basis to confirm your effectiveness and maturity...

Is free and there is no obligation. (No salesmen will call..)